Julia Goerges vs Samantha Stosur, Sydney R1 Preview

Samantha Stosur faces an extremely tough opening round match in Sydney when she comes up against Germany’s Julia Goerges. Julia Goerges arrives in Sydney in the form of her career. Goerges is on a 14 -match winning streak having won 3 titles in a row. Goerges won Moscow and Zhuhai to end 2017 on a high and carried that form into Auckland last week where she won the ASB Classic.

Julia Goerges is up to a career high ranking of 12 having won 3 title in a row. Goerges was in fine form last week in Auckland where she dropped just 1 set on route to the title. Goerges saved her best performance for the final where she blasted her way past Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 7-6. Goerges was in command for the entire match, apart from a dip in form at the end of the second set it was a near flawless performance form Goerges who served extremely well and was clinical from the baseline.

Sam Stosur’s start to the season was far less impressive. Stosur was easily beaten in the opening round at the Brisbane International, a 1-6 3-6 loss to Anastasija Sevastova. Stosur’s hard court form is not good, a losing record on the surface in 2017 and her form in Australia is also not good, in 2017 she did not win a match in front of her home crowd.

The head-to-head record is also in the German’s favour. Goerges holds a 5-1 head-to-head record over Stosur and has won the last 3 meetings between the pair. Most recently Goerges won 4-6 6-4 6-4 at Indian Wells last year. Goerges has won all 4 of the previous matches between the pair on a hard court. The German’s deep, powerful hitting is troublesome for Stosur.